House Sweetsinger
The members of House Sweetsinger were the former Lords of Eagleton and Counts of Adelart, serving from the creation of the Country of Adelart to its conquering by Greifwald and the subsequent extinction of Adelart's vast lineage. The final definitive lord of House Sweetsinger was Symon III, whose death sparked the Adelartian Civil War about 400 years ago. Greifwald quickly intervened and ended the lines of all Adelartian claimants, except for Tristan Sweetsinger, who sided with the Greifwaldians in his claim against Symon III, and soon became the first Sheriff of Adelart, though since this claim was elective, when he died, the title did not pass to his descendants. Founding of the County of Adelart (298 ALB) Before Adelart was united under the rule of the first Symon, it was made up of many fractured communities that stood under the rule of the Kingdom of Aquileia, a sprawling Kingdom that was at that point one of the most powerful nations on the continent, if not the most powerful. Adelart's peasant communities were maintained by lesser lords, who gave their taxes and swords to the King in Aquila but mostly kept themselves autonomous and away from Aquileian politics. Symon I ruled over Eagleton, and saw the Aquileian centralization of power over their vassals as a way to strike against the petty lordships of Adelart and unite them. Symon, using guerrilla tactics, infiltrated Lissay and Conard, hiding his army among the forests and striking at night. It is said by many medieval accounts that Symon practically invented Adelartian guerrilla and forest warfare. Symon had mercy on the lords, however, although he seized their castles from under them. He appointed many as castellans of different castles in Adelart, and many went to Eagleton themselves to give counsel to him. He crowned himself as Count of Adelart soon after. The Line of Succession Moves Onward (308 ALB - 432 ALB ) Symon I's rule was prosperous, moving toward the Aquileians and their King and implementing feudal taxation and levies, helping to centralize the once-fractured lordships of Adelart into an independent county. While he did make friendly relations with his Aquileian overlords, his move for Adelart to be known on the Kingdom's inner stage also led to conflict with Greifwald, who was more than unhappy with a new, ambitious county on its doorstep. Symon warred with Greifwald many times in border-conflicts and small wars, and the two counties began a streak of severe animosity. Symon died in his sleep in 323 ALB, though conspiracy theorists and other skeptics often claim he was poisoned by his enemies, the Greifwaldians, in an attempt to seize or fracture Adelart. Symon was seceded by his brother, Tomas Sweetsinger, who was crowned as Tomas I of Adelart. Tomas's reign was filled with much of the same as Symon's, as centralization spread to more and more communities. Tomas mostly focused on bandits in the countryside, who had taken control of whole towns and castles during the decentralized period of Adelartian lordships. One bandit leader, a griffon who called himself only "Blacktalon", raided numerous amounts of towns and built his own bandit fiefdom. Tomas used opposing bandit militias to cause chaos within Blacktalon's band, and the two militias destroyed themselves, leading to the destruction of Blacktalon's fief and his death, although the circumstances were uncertain, and for decades, townsfolk claimed that Blacktalon was still out there raiding, which has led to as many as 15 griffons declaring themselves to be Blacktalon and donning his cloak of the "feathers of his enemies", though it is likely Blacktalon's cloak was simply other bird feathers and not necessarily Griffon feathers. Tomas died in 367 ALB from a particularly bad cough during a disease outbreak in Eagleton, and his sickly son, Symon II took the throne. While he tried to quell the disease that harmed his people, he ironically succumbed to it, and died in 368 ALB, only 6 months after his father's death, coughing up blood and bile and dying in agony. With the Great Disease ravaging Eagleton and the surrounding countryside, Symon II's brother, Talman Sweetsinger, closed the city. Merchants were turned away, those suspected of the disease were even jailed to prevent it from spreading, and the afflicted fleeing for help were forced to camp outside the city, where healers and medics attempted to cure them. With their relatively primitive technology, they were eventually able to isolate the disease, and after 10 years of agony and plague, from 365-375 ALB, The Great Disease was over. It's toll - Tomas I, Symon II, Tomas's 1 other son and his sons. The House of Sweetsinger now continued through Talman Sweetsinger, and his young son, Torman.